250 Proceedings of the Ohio State Acadeiiiv of Science 



fruits were cultivated. Eveu in a generation, the descendants 

 of these New England emigrants learned that the muck lands 

 associated with the ridges were especially adapted to the growth 

 of onions ; further than this, I have not been able to learn of 

 much ingenuity on the part of these aboriginal farmers. Grad- 

 uallv as more distant outlets were found, the first through the 

 construction of good stage roads, later through the digging of 

 canals and the stimulated lake navigation, and finally through the 

 building of railroads, agriculture became more varied. 



A lore thought was given to adapting crops to the soil. The 

 broad flats below the Whittlesey level were found better suited 

 to the growth of vineyards ; the soil here is clay, for the most 

 part either glacial or residual of the old shales. We note in this 

 region at the present time further diversity, particularly where 

 a low swell of gravel breaks the usual clay ; these slight ridges 

 may be located, usually by an apple orchard three or four rows 

 of trees wide, but awkwardly long. 



\A'ith the increasing city population, a growth made up very 

 largely of foreigners attracted by opportunities of labor, there 

 came increasing local demands ; but the local farmer was tardy 

 in responding to this demand ; he was not so thrifty that he re- 

 garded his farm investment as a good one ; in consequence, the 

 provident foreigner from his days" labor relentlessly saved and 

 so became a farmer. With this gradual supplanting of the Xew 

 England farmer by the Danes, Germans, Bohemians, and Po- 

 landers, came the installation of European thoroughness in ag- 

 riculture. Intensive and specialized farming rather than the 

 former extensive method was inaugurated as these men became 

 land owners. Farms that had been barely supplying the ex- 

 penses of living for a Yankee family later formed the basis of 

 permanent bank accounts. The beach ridges were enriched, 

 crops adapted to them were grown ; the sandy fields were so 

 treated as to be made more dependable in times of drought ; stub- 

 born clav areas were drained and lightened. As the city of 

 Cleveland continued to grow in population, market-gardening in 

 the hands of these foreigners was made very profitable. These 

 new emigrants from old Europe brought with them a training 



